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Five Best Tips For Women Starting Their Careers

Every year as graduation time rolls around, so do the emails and tweets from young graduates wanting advice to make it in the real world. This year, I turned to the ladies behind Ask Ajna*, a career guide in your pocket which helps you find your voice and negotiate for what you really want for their advice. Here are their five best tips for women starting their careers.

1. Don’t accept the first offer you get — negotiate your pay package.

Some women are afraid to negotiate pay and many more simply don’t think to ask for more. Consider this: by simply accepting an offer as presented, and not negotiating for a better compensation package, you stand to lose up to $1 million or more over the course of your career.

You can help ward off the anxiety of negotiating pay, by arming yourself with information. Research the current market value for the job you want. Third-party compensation information will give you a good indication of a job’s value. Some great sources include payscale.com, salary.com and glassdoor.com. Use this information as a baseline. Then assess your skills versus the requirements to determine your value in the job.

Very few professional-level jobs are compensated via salary alone. So, think in terms of a total compensation package. If you can’t get the salary you want, ask for a signing bonus, more vacation or some other work benefit. Many women are surprised at how easy it is to get more by simply asking.

2. Use your voice — don’t expect your work to speak for itself.

Most women are uncomfortable promoting themselves. You may think, “If I just do a good job, someone will notice and the rewards will materialize.” Unfortunately, it seldom happens that way. If you’re not getting acknowledged and you don’t ask for the things you want, recognize that you may have lost your most important career asset – your voice!

You’re hired for a job because of your skills and talents. Don’t let these get minimized by not speaking up. Your ideas, contributions and achievements are yours to realize AND to highlight, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. Take steps to ensure your great work is visible to others, especially your boss. It’s not necessary to force conversations or to become an arrogant jerk. Simply take those natural opportunities to talk about the work you’re doing and what you’ve achieved.

3. Take credit and accept praise.

We’ve all experienced this scenario: you’re wearing a great new outfit and a co-worker compliments you. You respond without a second thought, “This old thing?” or “Thanks, I got it on sale.” Women tend to deflect in situations where we may be elevated because we’re natural equalizers.

Unfortunately, this can be a huge disadvantage in the workplace. When you respond to praise or an acknowledgement by deflecting or giving credit to others, you give away your power. For example, your boss says, “Good job on that project.” You respond, “I had a great team. They really worked hard.” You think you’re being gracious, but you actually devalued your role and yourself. And, you may have left your boss questioning your contribution to the success of the project.

When you receive praise, own it! Simply say, “Thank you.” Or, take the opportunity to elaborate on your accomplishment. You can even acknowledge others, but do so in a way that doesn’t devalue your role, “I’m very proud of the results I achieved. The whole team did a great job on this project.”

4. Use powerful language. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.

Women are often perceived as indecisive, ineffective or unsure of themselves, simply because of the language we use and the way we speak. We fill in the details before getting to the point; we use more words, softer and more inclusive language; we have a tendency to speak in terms of “we” rather than “I.”

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